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Your curriculum, but guests actually finish it.

If your growth track is currently a PDF or Google Doc people print and bring back, you know the problem: half of them don't bring it back. Here's what changes when guests can finish on their own time.

From our 2026 survey

27% of the churches we surveyed listed PDF or Google Doc based pathways among what they used before OnArk. Their #1 reason for switching: no way to track who finished, much less who started.

Side by side

What you get with each option.

What you needGoogle Docs / PDFsOnArk
Free to start
Yes
YesFree 21-day trial
Guest finishes self-paced
YesIf they bring it back
YesResumable across visits
Track who started vs finished
No
YesReal progress tracking
DISC / Spiritual Gifts assessments
NoManual paper scoring
YesAuto-scored, shown instantly
Video content with questions
No
YesYouTube / direct upload with prompts
Branching conversations (if/then)
No
YesBranch sections
Planning Center sync
No
YesWorkflows + custom fields
Mobile-friendly
YesPDFs zoom on phones
YesBuilt mobile-first
Print-friendly archival copy
Yes
NoBuilt for screens, not paper

In just a couple months we added more new volunteers and members than we had all last year without OnArk.

JohnnyLead Pastor · Discover Church
Honest take

When each one's actually right.

Stick with PDFs if

Your curriculum is heavily formatted for a print booklet, your church culture really values handing physical materials to guests, or you have no internet expectations of your congregation. PDFs are timeless.

Switch to OnArk if

You want to know who actually finished. You want guests to be able to start at home, finish on Sunday between services, and resume the following week. You want results that flow into Planning Center automatically instead of someone transcribing them.

Try it free

See what changes in 30 minutes.

Free for 21 days, $0 today. Same playbook your sister churches used.